first line employee

English translation: operative / assembly line or production line worker

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:first line employee
Selected answer:operative / assembly line or production line worker
Entered by: Charles Davis

10:00 Mar 24, 2014
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Human Resources
English term or phrase: first line employee
The turnover rate of first line employee at xxx is high: In your opinion, for what reason have employees left xxx?

Low-level employee?
Bin Tiede (X)
Germany
Local time: 07:57
operative / assembly line or production line worker
Explanation:
Firstly, "first-line manager/supervisor" and "first-line employee/worker" are not the same thing. The former refers to the lowest tier of management: those who manage non-managers. But applied to employees or workers, "first-line" means those (as you might say) "at the sharp end". The term is really quite similar in meaning to "front-line".

When it is a company or organisation dealing with the public in some way (particular in service industries), "first-line" workers are those who actually deal directly with customers or other members of the public. However, that is not relevant in a manufacturing company like this one. Here they are employees engaged directly in the manufacturing process, as opposed to those doing ancillary tasks (clerical, packing, etc.).

"As of Oct. 1, the monthly wage for all "first line" workers—those on the assembly lines—as well as their line leaders and supervisors, will be increased to 2,000 yuan, or about $293, Hon Hai said in a statement."
(Wall Street Journal: a reliable native source.)
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405274870472610...

"The traditional organizational structure was dismantled. First-line employees were organized into self-directed work teams. These employees, known as "members", were given a wide array of responsibilities [...] Middle managers, formerly responsible for the tasks turned over to the first-line workers, now focused their efforts on teaching and on coaching members to lead themselves. [...] Slowly, members working on the production line began to take over more of the responsibility for operating Johnsonville Foods [...]"
http://books.google.es/books?id=HQ6iDuVQPEIC&pg=PT77&lpg=PT7...

"Unfortunately, managers and executives are all too often unwilling to hear what the first-line workers have to say—or listen to what they have to say with a jaundiced ear, thinking that the workers’ only interest is to make their own tasks easier or less stressful."
http://www.rklesolutions.com/blog/making-strategy-effective/

"First line workers responsible for operating tasks (semi-skilled)"
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03162005-151333/u... (foot p. 16)

" Of these workers, men's jobs were skilled or semiskilled: drivers and mechanics, irrigation work, handhoeing, melon picking, and pepper picking. Women's jobs were melon and pepper packing; only during the bean harvest were women first-line workers."
http://www.popline.org/node/378923
Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 07:57
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +2an employee with a direct contact with the customer
Adrian Liszewski
4 +2operative / assembly line or production line worker
Charles Davis
4management level of a company employee directly above non-managerial workers
acetran
4 -1A fresh starter or new employee
David Moore (X)


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
A fresh starter or new employee


Explanation:
Whenever a person begins a career with an organization, either public or private, there is always the possibility that that person will remain as a first-line employee.

See page 15 of the following site:
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/110407NCJRS.pdf

This certainly how I understand it. It sometimes refers to the staff first approached by members of the public, before the matter is escalated further up the pyramid.

David Moore (X)
Local time: 07:57
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Adrian Liszewski: Often fresh starters are put in a first-line position, but these two terms are not a synonyms!
26 mins
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
an employee with a direct contact with the customer


Explanation:
In my opinion it refers to the people who answer phone calls, occupy the counters, salespeople or any employee that the customer talks to on first contact with the company. It is well below the management level.

Adrian Liszewski
Poland
Local time: 07:57
Native speaker of: Polish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tina Vonhof (X)
2 hrs

agree  jccantrell: This is how I would understand it, the first line of defense for the company.
2 hrs

neutral  Charles Davis: As I've pointed out in my answer, although it can mean this, it can also mean production workers, and I think the latter is much more likely in a car-part manufacturer.
3 hrs
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9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
management level of a company employee directly above non-managerial workers


Explanation:
Term describing the management level of a company employee directly above non-managerial workers. First line managers generally supervise production on line tasks in the manufacturing business, and typically consist of positions such as foreman, section head and shift boss. First line managers are an important source of information about worker satisfaction for higher management to take into account in their organizational planning process.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/first-line-mana...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2014-03-24 11:40:32 GMT)
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http://firstlinemanager.info/2011/06/29/first-line-manager-t...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2014-03-24 11:59:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

managers are employees too!

acetran
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in HindiHindi, Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Peter Simon
4 mins
  -> Thanks!

neutral  Charles Davis: But your answer refers to the term "first-line manager". Are you sure that "first-line employee" has the same meaning?
20 mins
  -> http://firstlinemanager.info/2011/06/29/first-line-manager-t...

disagree  David Moore (X): Your reference suggest to me that you took the top one, without realising that it said "managers" and NOT employees"
52 mins
  -> http://firstlinemanager.info/2011/06/29/first-line-manager-t...
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
operative / assembly line or production line worker


Explanation:
Firstly, "first-line manager/supervisor" and "first-line employee/worker" are not the same thing. The former refers to the lowest tier of management: those who manage non-managers. But applied to employees or workers, "first-line" means those (as you might say) "at the sharp end". The term is really quite similar in meaning to "front-line".

When it is a company or organisation dealing with the public in some way (particular in service industries), "first-line" workers are those who actually deal directly with customers or other members of the public. However, that is not relevant in a manufacturing company like this one. Here they are employees engaged directly in the manufacturing process, as opposed to those doing ancillary tasks (clerical, packing, etc.).

"As of Oct. 1, the monthly wage for all "first line" workers—those on the assembly lines—as well as their line leaders and supervisors, will be increased to 2,000 yuan, or about $293, Hon Hai said in a statement."
(Wall Street Journal: a reliable native source.)
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405274870472610...

"The traditional organizational structure was dismantled. First-line employees were organized into self-directed work teams. These employees, known as "members", were given a wide array of responsibilities [...] Middle managers, formerly responsible for the tasks turned over to the first-line workers, now focused their efforts on teaching and on coaching members to lead themselves. [...] Slowly, members working on the production line began to take over more of the responsibility for operating Johnsonville Foods [...]"
http://books.google.es/books?id=HQ6iDuVQPEIC&pg=PT77&lpg=PT7...

"Unfortunately, managers and executives are all too often unwilling to hear what the first-line workers have to say—or listen to what they have to say with a jaundiced ear, thinking that the workers’ only interest is to make their own tasks easier or less stressful."
http://www.rklesolutions.com/blog/making-strategy-effective/

"First line workers responsible for operating tasks (semi-skilled)"
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03162005-151333/u... (foot p. 16)

" Of these workers, men's jobs were skilled or semiskilled: drivers and mechanics, irrigation work, handhoeing, melon picking, and pepper picking. Women's jobs were melon and pepper packing; only during the bean harvest were women first-line workers."
http://www.popline.org/node/378923

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 07:57
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ildiko Santana: First-line employees (or ~ workers) are the highest tier of staff, in direct communication with managers and supervisors, see e.g.: https://www.shrm.org/Education/hreducation/Documents/44-1 So...
1 hr
  -> Thanks for the agree and the reference, Ildiko :)

agree  ghassan al-Alem: As long as it is an auto parts manufacturer, your answer will be the most probable I believe.
16 hrs
  -> Thank you, ghassan!
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